Over the past few years, many artists have decided to release multiple variants and alternate covers of their albums (Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Gaga, Florence Welch, Doja Cat, etc)

 

Do we think it's starting to get excessive, especially considering the visuals are all over the place (citing Doja and Cardi's latest variants)?

can anyone have an original thought?

I wouldn't mind it if they weren't intentionally choosing weaker ones for the standard cover just so people are incentivized to buy the physicals with the alt.

"You don't get to have multiple" who the **** are you

Alt covers in physical media have been in abundance for a LONG time now, if it wasn't tiring then, it shouldn't be now.

It wouldn't bother me if they're actually a part of the artist's vision for the album and have intention behind them instead of just being obvious cash grabs pushed by the record label. A lot of these alternate covers just give "This is a random picture from the photoshoot"

it's interesting how you cite Cardi and Doja's visuals as all over the place out of all those artists lol..

2 minutes ago, Popboi. said:

Alt covers in physical media have been in abundance for a LONG time now, if it wasn't tiring then, it shouldn't be now.

Back in the day it was always one alternate cover for the deluxe, rarely more than that.

 

for reference, The Life of a Showgirl has 8 alternate covers so far.

No. I appreciate when artists give fans options. I was not a huge fan of the original / first variant of Man's Best Friend so I loved how she released vastly different covers to cover different tastes.

 

Fans are not forced to buy all versions... Buying all variants doesn't get you anything different than someone else buying only one variant or only streaming. I've never understood the sudden hate for variants.

Multiple covers are useful to push physicals, I feel like single covers are a little unnecessary in the streaming age though 

Edited August 27, 20251 yr by HexMayhem

… such a non-issue 

alternate covers used to be an event

now they're just landfill

wtf? how's that keeping them from buying the original cover if they only want one original cover? 

Like?? how people spend money on a different pic?

 

Give us bonus tracks

It's just a marketing fad that will die out

A first world problem I fear. 

I don't mind them, alternate covers are not new. At the end of the day no one cares other than the artist's stans.

Video games sometimes give you an alternate cover on the backside so you can flip it over for the display case. Final Fantasy 16 for example.

 

Pure greed to not do that with the CD album booklets. 

Having one alt cover is chic. This trend of gradually rolling out alt covers in the weeks leading up to an album release is tired and just feels like a cash grab to me. 

6 minutes ago, americanlife said:

Back in the day it was always one alternate cover for the deluxe, rarely more than that.

 

for reference, The Life of a Showgirl has 8 alternate covers so far.

Back then as in… 90s? Cause even in the 10s there were tons of albums with webstore, walmart, target, UO, etc. exclusive covers for CD, vinyl and cassette.

For example Miley's Bangerz had 7 covers, any boy and or girl group album had covers for each member. 
 

This even applies to video games and movies.

Edited August 27, 20251 yr by Popboi.

No, just buy the ones you can afford or like.
 

For example i only got ONE copy of Doja album. You don't HAVE to buy every single one 

only if the artist can sell them   when Rina Sawayama did 15+ variants for Hold The Girl it was ok

It's not that deep nor complicated. There's the standard and then some.

 

Obviously there are extremes to it but alts are win-win to both artist (sales) and fans/consumers (experience). I personally see this as an interactive way to participate in the album's concept, picking the one that I feel immerses me more. To each their own.

I love when consumers get an option for an alternative cover tbh. 

I think iconography is a important  and having a singular image helps with that but multiple covers are nice too idk

 

its only a problem when the alternates are all clearly better and more related to theme of the record than the main one